The opening of the new 12-acre expansion at Disney California Adventure Park fueled big crowds and long lines at the Anaheim park this weekend. Disney officials declined to disclose attendance numbers for the park, except to say that lines were long and the crowds were manageable for the opening of the newest attraction, Cars Land, on Friday. But Al Lutz , the founder of Miceage .com , an online blog about Disney, reported Monday that California Adventure drew a record 43,000 guests on Friday and a record 45,000 visitors on Sunday.

After more than a decade in existence and $1.1 billion in renovations, Disney California Adventure still probably needs another billion dollars in improvements before it can be worthy of the Disney name. RELATED: Disney park braces for 'carmageddon' as Cars Land opens As the hoopla surrounding the grand reopening of the Anaheim theme park dies down, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at what DCA was, has become and could be. REVIEWS: Cars Land | Radiator Springs Racers | Mater's Junkyard Jamboree | Luigi's Flying Tires | Buena Vista Street The story of DCA actually starts way back in 1991 when Disney announced plans to build the $3-billion Westcot in the old Disneyland parking lot. For myriad reasons, the West Coast version of Disney World's Epcot was eventually canceled and new plans were unveiled for an edgy and hip 55-acre theme park celebrating California pop culture.

When California Adventure opened in 2001, it was a baffling disappointment. Fans of Disneyland, legion and devoted, eagerly sought a wild and whimsical sister-planet and instead found something that resembled theme park as learning center - far too much space was devoted to approximations of various California topography and businesses, far too little to rides. More important, there were few, if any references to the films and characters that turned Disneyland into the Happiest Place on Earth.

It didn't take long for the families to swarm Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, one of the three main rides at Disney's California Adventure's Cars Land, which opened to the public Friday morning. Tractors zipped around in circles, not unlike the Mad Tea Party ride at Disneyland next door, swinging the passenger-bearing trailers behind them. In the background, Mater, the rusty tractor character from the "Cars" films voiced by comic Larry the Cable guy, sang a rotation of square-dance ditties to banjo and fiddle accompaniment. Visitor reactions to the ride, and to Cars Land overall, were generally positive from a first-day crowd of admitted Disney fans.

The opening day of Disney's California Adventure has begun. Characters from the "Newsies" film and musical danced on stage Friday as company Chief Executive Bob Iger lauded the changes to the park. “We believe the transformation over the last five years, culminating in Buena Vista Street and Cars Land, created a totally new experience and deserves a grand opening,” Iger said. The Disney California Adventure park, next door to Disneyland, opened in 2001 and has had underwhelming returns, even by the admission of company executives.

Disney is opening its new Cars Land attraction at California Adventure on June 15. Reporter Hugo Martin explains in the video that Disney is hoping the 12-acre Southwestern-themed expansion will make California Adventure more of a destination than just a stopover on the way to next-door Disneyland. Cars Land is the center of Disney's a $1.1-billion investment in California Adventure. The video features photographs that give an early look at the attraction. Read the full story here.

The clean, crisp modern lines of "Tron" have been replaced by the chaotic, rose-colored acid trip of "Alice in Wonderland," but outside of an extensive cosmetic makeover, little has changed now that Disney California Adventure has rethemed its nightly dance party from ElecTRONica to the Mad T Party. PHOTOS: Mad T Party at Disney California Adventure The shiny new look seems tailor-made for the short attention spans of the wall-to-wall under-25 crowd of mostly high school and college kids who have made the alcohol-infused and music-centric outdoor rave a wildly popular success at the Anaheim theme park.

For more than a decade, Disney California Adventure Park has been putt-putting along in the slow lane, trailing its neighbor Disneyland in the race for big attendance numbers. A new 12-acre expansion called Cars Land, set to be unveiled June 15, is the latest and by far biggest attempt to get the laggard theme park up to speed. Based on the hit animated "Cars" movies made by Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar studio, Cars Land will include a racing convertible ride, square-dancing tractors and plenty of opportunities to buy themed merchandise.

If you're thinking of visiting a Disney park in Anaheim this summer, be warned that the price is about to jump by between $7 and $150 depending on the ticket deal. The annual summer price hike for tickets to Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park were announced Friday and take effect Sunday. For example, a ticket for one day at either Disneyland or California Adventure had cost $80 for parkgoers who are 10 or older. The new price, starting Sunday, will be $87, up nearly 9%. The biggest increase will hit people who buy the premium annual pass that includes parking.

The latest expansion of Disney's California Adventure, the new Cars Land attraction, is set to open June 15, Disney officials said Friday, as the park offered a peek at one of the biggest attractions featured in the $1-billion expansion. The 12-acre Cars Land, featuring the characters from the Disney-Pixar film "Cars," will open with several new restaurants and three rides, including Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Luigi's Flying Tires and Radiator Springs Racers. The most elaborate and anticipated attraction is Radiator Springs Racers, in which small, convertible cars carry passengers around realistic-looking buttes and canyons.